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Chapter 37 - Not Bad For an Old Man

CHAPTER 37

JOHN

Darryl Jackson sucked mighty horse balls when it came to the art of trash talking.

"What's the matter old man? Arthritis settin' in?" he taunted, prancing about like an untrained, overzealous puppy.

Sweat dripped from my temple and I dribbled the ball, watching him like a hawk. I was trailing behind by two points and he was rubbing it in my face.

I made a move to crossover to the right but ended up lunging to the left instead. Darryl caught on quick, blocking my path. I swore under my breath as he stole the ball right out from under me, making his way down towards the other side of the court.

He dodged my first attempt to swipe the ball back, but I got him the second time around, blocking his shot and stealing his ball.

I got into position at the three-point line, Darryl breathing down my neck. I gave it everything I had, watching the ball shoot up into the air, forming a perfect arc towards the hoop. It circled the rim once... twice...

"Oh!" I chanted, raising my fist in the air, spinning around on the heels of my sneakers and smirking at the younger man. "I'd say not too bad for an old man," I grinned, patting Darryl on the back, smirking. "Nice try though... A+ for effort."

"You got lucky," Darryl chuckled as we made our way towards the rickety picnic table on the edge of the court. Darryl searched through his gym bag and pulled out a water bottle.

The women were at this yoga class - or was it Pilates? Something fancy like that - for expecting mothers, so we had to entertain ourselves without them for a while. So we ended up making our way to the park for a pick-up game. It was dusk on a Thursday, so there weren't very many people around.

Two kids were hanging out on the swings when we arrived, but they left not long after. A gaggle of teenagers were being rowdy on the monkey bars now, but they were far enough away and weren't paying us any mind.

"Are ya doin' anythin' for Valentine's Day?" I asked suddenly.

"Why? Are you askin' me out?" Darryl chuckled.

"In your dreams," I shook my head, taking a long swig of water from my water bottle and screwing the cap back on.

"I don't know what we're doin' yet... but I'm gonna figure somethin' out. Maisy's not really into the celebratin' though... says it's just commercialized bullshit, which I got to admit is totally true," he shrugged.

"Yeah... Carly said she doesn't mind if we don't do anythin', but I'm havin' trouble figurin' out if that's code for: you better do somethin' real damn special, you asshole, or else I'll hate you forever... or if she legitimately does wanna stay home and just... I don't know... watch a movie," I told him.

"Play it safe, go all out," Darryl smirked.

"I usually do," I smirked.

I had to go to Dallas again for a few short hours the next morning, which gave me some time to think about Valentine's Day a little more and figure out something special to do. It was Friday, so my day was cut a little shorter than usual, which meant I'd be able to get home early enough to help Carly around the ranch a little before dinner.

I only had two more months before the end of the semester, which meant two more months of this back-and-forth traveling before I'd start working for Darryl's father. I had another semester in the fall to complete after that, but by December they'd finally hand me my certificate, which I was really looking forward to.